3rd Sunday of Lent 2015

Reflection for Sunday March 8, 2015

Something to think about during Lent

A reflection for the 3^rd Sunday of Lent 2015

By Rev. Fr. Bob Johnnene OFJ

Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus

Independent Catholic Church of the Americas

 

 

For the remaining 25 days of lent before we begin the Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday culminating with the glorious feast celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, I thought I would reflect on what this period of the church season means and how we, as followers of Jesus Christ, should be concentrating in order to prepare ourselves for the Pascal Mystery we celebrate on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday the eve of the Easter Celebration.

Just what exactly, is the message of the all the gospels used by the universal church during Lent, beyond the story of the events leading up to Christ’s passion, death and resurrection?

The first one is of acceptance, accepting Jesus Christ as the promised messiah, the redeemer, the son of God who became man to bring us a new covenant or way of life.

As we have heard in the gospels, not all were ready to accept that and many who did, did so only after witnessing a major miracle.

Our challenge is to believe and accept Jesus Christ as the son of God and the one sent to save us and open up the gates of heaven to us because of our faith and trust and love of Almighty God, the Creator and Father of us all.  

This is a difficult thing for many to do, especially since today we have so many secular distractions. The truth of the Gospels seems to be always challenged and brought into question.  Not too long ago a major television network and all the newspapers and TV stations told the story of the supposed remains of Jesus being found and those supposedly of His child and wife. 

The evidence presented was sparse and highly questionable and not conclusive but it still seemed to convince some that it was factual and therefore opened them to question all that our religion teaches.

In today’s world, many question the will of God, question why, if God is a God of mercy there is so much suffering in the world. I do not have the answer that will satisfy most but I believe that just as God had a reason for creating everything and that everything that he created was good; I have to believe that He has a reason for the suffering.

Some theologians will tell you that it is to allow us to experience a small portion of the suffering that Jesus endured. That may very well be true but, in addition,  I personally believe the suffering is meant to give us an opportunity to take action to ease that suffering and bring comfort to those who are suffering, just as Jesus brought comfort to those who believed and followed Him and he instructed us in His sermon on the mount.

So possibly the first message we get from the readings during the Lenten season is to have total and complete trust in God and to “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and body”.

Another message is, Christ came for ALL people not just the Jews but for all of children of God which means every human being on the face of this earth regardless of religion, nationality, race or gender.

Just as Christ did not discriminate or abide by the rules of Jewish tradition and the Jewish laws by speaking with women who were not relatives, eating with those who were considered unclean by the priests of His time, so we are called to not discriminate against anyone because of their race, nationality, religious belief, marital status or sexual orientation. 

Christ even spoke with those who were not followers of Judaism and so we need to be open to discussion with those who follow other religions.

God sent Jesus to bring the message of salvation to every living person on the face of the earth. That message was one of hope, peace, love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness.

In the time of Christ, just as today, there were those who felt threatened by this message of hope. If people believed this message of Christ, those in positions of power would not be able to yield the control over them through threats and intimidation.

Today we still see threats and intimidation being used to enforce rules that have been put in place by infallible humans, for no other purpose but to maintain power and prestige.

Rules that hurt and cause people pain and become disenfranchised and question religious teachings because they seem to be in conflict with what Jesus taught.

The lesson here is to listen to your heart, listen to what Jesus taught and labor hard to put His teachings in action in your everyday life.

Make Lent a time of doing, not a time of giving up something but a time to put into practice the Corporal Works of Mercy.

To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To harbor the homeless; To visit the sick; To ransom the captive; To bury the dead and The spiritual works of mercy which are:

To instruct the uninformed; To counsel the uncertain; To caution sinners; To bear wrongs patiently;   To forgive offences willingly; To comfort the afflicted; To pray for the living and the dead.

 

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave us an indication of how people will react if we live by His teachings. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Sermon on the Mount closes with this statement, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

To me that indicates that we have to become more trusting, more faithful, more merciful and less judgmental and narrow minded that those who profess to be the anointed ones of discerning God’s will.

The Holy Spirit is alive and wel as Pope Francis has stressed many times since he was chosen by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to be the Bishop of Rome often called Pope or in Italian PaPa.

The Holy Spirit is attempting to open the hearts and minds of all to God’s will and inspire us as to how we can achieve the promised kingdom.

We need to open ourselves to listening to the Spirit as it talks to us.

These are a few of the thoughts I have as I enter the final days of preparation for the Paschal Banquet and the celebration of our salvation in Christ Jesus.

The season of Lent is a time for us to evaluate ourselves and search out ways for us to improve our relationship with Almighty God. Every tool that we can find, in addition to fasting and denial of some of life’s luxuries and going the extra mile to do good deed, help us to have a closer relationship with God. 

Thomas A. Kempis in his THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST had this comment;

 “What is knowledge if one does not have fear of God? It is better to be a humble countryman that serves God than the proud philosopher who considers the course of the heavens and neglects himself before God.” “High words make not a man holy and righteous, but a virtuous life makes him dear to God.” “If you knew the whole Bible and the sayings of all the philosophers, what does all that avail you without the love and grace of God” The next line is a classic, “Vanities of vanities, all is vanity save only loving God and serving Him alone”.

The question then arises, How do we best serve God?

As stated earlier, the answer is in living, daily, the directions found in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount called the Beatitudes and in The Corporal and Spiritual works of Mercy.

When it comes to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy how do we stack up in doing the following? To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To shelter the homeless; To visit the sick; To ransom the captive; To bury the dead.

Do we bear wrongs patiently?; forgive offences willingly?; comfort the afflicted?, and pray for the living and the dead as the Spiritual works of mercy advise us?

If we want to be Christ like we have to begin to act and think in a way consistent with what Christ instructed us to do. This applies to all persons who claim to be followers of Christ, Democrat or Republican, Single, Married or divorced, heterosexual, homosexual or asexual in short every living human who proclaims “I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ”.

We can  only begin to find peace within ourselves and among all those who surround us by actively living as Christ taught.

Let’s change the way we usually prepared during Lent and instead of giving things up let us start doing things like praying more, volunteering time at a food pantry or homeless shelter, visiting the elderly in nursing homes or shut-ins, donating to the food bank or a charity of a poor faith community.

  If we all worked harder at doing these things the glory of the resurrected Christ will illuminate the world come Easter Morning.  AMEN